Resident Evil 6 Interview Part II - Michelle Lee

The Resident Evil franchise is no stranger to kick-ass, female characters. But just who is behind all those incredible moves? Geek Girl, Leen Isabel, talks to the four talented women who brought our favorite characters to life in Resident Evil 6. Each week we'll release a new interview with each mo-cap artist where they share their experiences and memories with us. We love to celebrate the geek girl -- including those who work on awesome games!

Michelle Lee is here to talk about her experience in motion capture for Resident Evil 6's Ada Wong! Not only is she an avid gamer, but she's a black belt martial artist as well! Want to know more about her? Read the interview below!

1. Hi Michelle! I’m so happy to have the chance to interview you! Welcome to Geek Girls!
Thank you I'm so honored to be interviewed!

2. At Geek x Girls, we love to celebrate the accomplishments of women in the industry. How did you get into working as a mo-cap artist for video games? Is that something you knew you always wanted to do?
Awesome! I love celebrating the accomplishments of women in the industry! I feel it takes a different kind of female to be a geek girl. It takes a multi-talented lover of technology, gaming and entertainment. I actually had no idea what mo-cap was initially! I played a lot of video games in my HS and college years. A LOT. I loved video games and knew a lot about them, I even interned as a programmer for several big game companies out of university. My background is that I am a conservatory trained actress, a black belt martial artist, an avid gamer and a nerdy programmer. I believe the whole mix of all my interests and hobbies, my understanding of the techy side of it, and my character in general allowed me to be a good fit for mo-cap!

3. How long have you been working in the industry?
I started with ridiculously funny head-shots when I was 6. Haha. Its been a life long dream of mine to work in this industry but with mo-cap specifically, I've probably been in it for about 6 years. I believe thats when the technology really advanced.

4. Can you tell me a bit about the process behind motion capture for those of us who aren’t familiar with it?
To put it simply, we wear funny suits with reflective balls and our movements are recorded and put onto 3D models for computer animation of games or movies. This allows a more natural performance of computer generated characters and saves a lot of animation time. It also allows the characters to be performed by actual, trained actors and fighters and performers. I believe it is a vital part of entertainment because it integrates technology and computer generated fantastical characters with the real movement and gravity of an actual person.
5. Resident Evil is one of my favorite video game franchises! Were you familiar with the series before working on it?
Resident Evil is one of MY FAVORITE FRANCHISES too!!!! 100% fan as well. I've played almost every iteration of the games. This was a dream come true to be able to work on the game indeed!

6. The character you play is Ada Wong. She’s agile, she’s strong and she’s ruthless. We often see her jumping from high ledges and flipping, kicking and punching her way through zombies. How physically demanding was it to play her role?
It was definitely a challenge and with the amazing team they were very specific on how she moved, her specific characteristics and even how she stood still. But to the cast, I believe we all felt like we were playing. It was such a pleasure to read the script and get to bring to life the characters in our own way and get do what they do for a day. By the end of the game, after all the flipping and fighting and jumping, I know that I am Ada Wong. :)

7. Other than having to wear the suit, how does mo-cap work differ from on-camera stunt work?Hair, makeup, lighting, changing camera angles, sound recording, all of that disappears and is put in later. So the focus is really the movement, the blocking, and shooting it perfect once guarantees that you can get it at any angle. Because the cameras are placed all around the volume, the re-creation of the scene in 3D allows the virtual camera to be put anywhere. It is a much faster process, which means there are many more scenes to be shot in a day than in an on camera project.

8. It all sounds like such exciting work! Do you do anything else outside of motion capture?Definitely! I am an actress, stuntwoman, martial artist, gamer, anime lover, dancer, photographer, web designer, app designer, all around geek girl! Woot!

9. What other projects may we have seen you in? I also worked on God of War 3 and 4, tons of other games, Pirates of the Caribbean 3 was my biggest film, I've been in several other films and TV shows like CSI and I currently am shooting as Mileena on Mortal Kombat 2 the web series.

10. Thank you! I appreciate that you taking the time for this interview!
Thank YOU for doing what you guys do! I'm inspired by geek girls too!